My mother is in the process of selling their business property in Ohio. The original listing contract that she had expired months ago.
Now she has an interested party wanting to buy it, but the buyer’s agent says that he will not submit the offer unless my mother signs a listing agreement with him.
He also said that if any other realtor is involved, he will not present the offer.
This is NOT the way that Realtors are supposed to operate, is it?
This realtor is from a totally different brokerage than the one that mother had originally used. Mom doesn’t want to go thru a realtor. She just wants to use her Attorney.
The realtor is doing a disservice to his client and his reputation. Perhaps your mom should remind him that he is licensed and that license could be at risk should she report him to his broker and/or the state licensing agency.
I think it could even be a scam. How does she even know he has a buyer? I wouldn’t sign with this agent at all and would report them to the state real estate commission.
Tell her mom to get all his contact info, look up his license, and let him know that she knows her rights and that he’s violating them. Tell him if he wants to submit fine, if not, he gets ZERO commission AND she is going to report him for not representing his buyers.
Your mother should play along with this person jsut long enough to find out their motivation and if this person is a realtor or a broker. If they or are not BUST THEM down to the LOW LIFE they deserve. Once she finds out what exactly they do and who they work for if they are a real estate agent or broker the Real Estate Board of her state would love to hear about this. Additionally her attorney would love to sink his or her teeth into this as well.
What the Realtor is doing is despicable and lowly, but not prima facie illegal(unless there are laws prohibiting dual-agency in your state) or if the offer is already written and the Realtor somehow deceives his client into thinking he presented an offer and it was refused and it in fact wasn’t. As a RE Broker, I’m never surprised at the lowly conduct of those in my profession. I don’t want to get on my high-horse, but I hear no end of horror stories, especially about the residential guys taking advantage of desperate to sell homeowners. It’s not so common on the commercial side. Usually commercial brokers are just trying to get one over on other commercial brokers, not principals.
The subject Realtor’s conduct is unacceptable.
There is a simple solution to protect your mother if she is considering selling through this low-life:
a for-sale-by-owner showing and compensation agreement. He gets paid a standard cooperative compensation similar what would be offered him if the property was listed with the previous agent.
It’s an agreement to the effect that if the Realtor shows the property and presents an offer that the seller accepts, the seller agrees to pay cooperative commission. It’s not a listing agreement. And make sure it’s worded that way, not as a listing agreement. If he really has a buyer in the wings, it should be totally acceptable to the Realtor–he’s protected on the commission, after all. If it is not acceptable to him, he probably doesn’t have a buyer waiting, in which case he is just trying to con his way into a listing and is probably guilty of an infraction with a fine up to $25,000 and possible loss of license and penal time, depending on your state laws.
Try the FSBO showing and compensation agreement if she really wants to sell. If he doesn’t agree, he doesn’t have a buyer; report him to your equivalent of Office of Banks and Real Estate as well as his sponsoring broker. Let me tell you, Brokers take agent misconduct very very seriously, because we’re not going to risk everything over one house for one agent and are ultimately responsible for the misconduct of any sponsored agent. Your local governing body will also take your complaint very seriously and I encourage you to pursue remedies to the fullest extent of the law.